Excavating apparatus



May 26, 1925.

W. J; NEWMAN EXCAVATING APPARATUS 3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Des, 26. 1924 Th 06? Zita/ll May 26, 1925. 1,538,947

w. J. NEWMAN EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Deg. 26. 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 26, 1925 1,538,947

W. J. NEWMAN EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 26. 1924 3 She ts-Sheet 5 Patented May 26, 1925.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM J. NEWMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

Application filed December 26, 1324. Serial No. 758,160.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I; WILLIAM J. NEWMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Excavating Apparatus of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to excavating or digging machines which may be used for digging various materials but which is particularly intended for excavating or tunneling relatively soft material such as damp or wet clay, which may be readily out by means of a knife. I have discovered that soft clay may be advantageously excavated by means of substantially U-shaped knives which will cut out layers of clay of approximately the shape of the knife, and the present machine embodies such cutting apparatus, in combination with various other features.

The objects of this machine are to provide improved means for cutting or excavating clay or other relatively soft material; to provide novel cutting knives for excavating purposes; to provide power driven outters for cutting clay or thelike with followers or pushers for carrying away or throwing back the excavated material to provide novel cutting apparatus for excavating soft material with means for conveying the material to load it on to cars; and to provide such improved apparatus and such details of construction as will be described more fully in the following specification.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating this invention:

Figure 1 is a side view showing a tunneling apparatus embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of the 'cutters and driving shaft;

Figure 41 is a sectional view taken on the line 411 of Figure 3; and

Figures 5 and 6 are details showing a modified form of pusher or paddle.

The excavating apparatus is shown in these drawings as being mounted on a truck 10- of the endless chain track type, which may be driven by any suitable power. A turn table 11 is mounted on the truck frame 12 and may be turned in any suitable manner as by means of a worm gear 13 and worm 14 which is carried by a shaft 15, mounted in suitable bearings on the frame 12 and adapted to be turned by means of a crank 16. Posts or uprights 17 are mounted on the turn table and furnish a support for a boom 18, which is pivoted thereto at 19. The boom is made in the form of a frame with side pieces 20 and cross pieces 21. The boom may be raised and lowered by any suitable mechanism, as by means of a cable 22, which is'secured at 23 to the outer end of the boom and passes over a sheave 2 1 and down to a winch 25 which may be turned by means of a crank 26 for raising and lowering the boom. The shaft 24: and winch 25 are mounted on an A-shaped frame or posts 27 which extend upwardly from the truck frame 12 and are rigidly secured thereto.

The boom 20 is provided at its outer end with bearings 28 for a cutter shaft 29 upon which is mounted my novel cutting devices.

Each knife or cutter 30 has two substantially parallel arms 31 which are adapted to pass through slots 32 in the shaft 29. These arms are also provided with projections 33 which are adapted to bear against the outer surface of the shaft and to form shoulders for holding the arms in position as well as strengthening the same. The arms are secured to the shaftby pins 3 1 or any other suitable fastening devices. The outer ends of the arms are connected by a blade or cutting portion 35 which may be securedthereto but which is preferably formed integrally therewith. IVhile these cutters or knives may be made of any desired size, I have found that for certain purposes they may conveniently be made about six inches wide and project about six inches from the shaft. The cutter shaft may have any desired number of these cutters and they may be arranged thereon in various ways but .are preferably staggered.

As one of these cutters engages with the material to be excavated, it will cut out an arcuate-shaped piece of the material conforming to the shape of the knife. When the excavated material is to be carried away on a conveyer, the cutter shaft is preferably rotated so that the knives cut as they move upwardly and each knife or cutter is provided with a pusher or paddle 36 which is adapted to engage with the excavated pieces and carry or throw them backwardly ontothe conveyer. The pushers or paddles 36 may be secured to the shaft 29 in any suitable manner as by means of stems or projections 37 which pass through holes 38 in the shaft and are held by means of pins 89. These pushers may be made in any suitable form but for certain kinds of sticky clay I prefer to have the faces convex or provided with projections 40 as shown in Figure 4 so that there will be comparatively little 'contact area between the pusher and the piece of excavated material. The backs of the pushers are also provided with webs or projections 41 for strengthening the same and to serve as braces against the shaft. Each pusher is arranged slightly in the rear of its corresponding cutter so that the material, as it is severed from the face of the cut will be engaged by the pusher and carried backwardly over the shaft, so as to be discharged in the rear thereof.

In the modified form of construction shown in Figures 5 and 6, the pushers are shown with recesses 42 in the face thereof, such concave pushers being adapted for different kinds of material, as for instance material which is not apt to stick to the pushers.

The shaft- 29 may be turned by any suitable manual or power means and is shown as being driven by a sprocket 43 and chain 44. The chain is driven by a sprocket 45 on a shaft 46 at the inner end of the boom 18. The shaft 46 is driven by a sprocket 47 which is engaged by a chain 48, which is driven by a sprocket 49 on the shaft of a motor 50.

Any suitable conveyer 51 may be used for carrying the excavated material away from the cutters. In the form shown, a belt 52 is mounted on rollers 53and 54 at either end thereof and intermediate supporting rollers 55 all of such rollers being carried by the boom 18. The conveyer is driven by a suitable chain and sprocket. drive 56 from the shaft 46.

As the excavated'material is carried back by the conveyer 51, it is discharged onto a second conveyor 57, which is adapted to carry itback and discharge it into mine cars 58. The conveyer 57 is pivotally mounted on brackets 59 on the truck frame and is driven by suitable chain and sprocket gearing 60 from a motor 61. The conveyer 57 may be adjusted by means of a winch and cable in a manner similar to the boom or may be supported by adjustable tie-rods 62 from the A-shaped frame 27.

Vhen the machine is to be used for tunneling, as illustrated in the drawings, the boom may be swung downwardly so that the out will begin at the floor of the tunnel and the depth of the cut will be regulated by moving the entire apparatus downward or away from the face. As the cutter shaft is driven, each knife as it engages with the material to be excavated will cut out a slice or portion of the material which will be engaged'by the following pusher and thrown back onto the conveyer 51 which carries it back to the conveyer 57 which in turn delivers it to the mine or pit car 58. When the cutters complete the upward cut, the machine may be moved forwardly and a downward cut made in the same plane or the turn table may be swung to move the outer end of the boom laterally so that a new cut may be made in a different plane, for instance as indicated in Figure 2. The conveyors may be arranged so that the ma terial from the conveyer 51 will always drop on the conveyor 57 or a hopper may be provided indicated at 63 for directing the material from the one conveyor to the other.

It will of course be apparent that my improved cutters or cutting apparatus may be utilized with different driving apparatus and with or without means for conveying material away from the cutters, therefore I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction or arrangement of parts herein shown and described except as set forth in the following claims, in which I claim:

1. In a machinefor excavating soft clay or the like, the combination of a conveyor, a shaft mounted adjacent to one end of the conveyor, means for turning said shaft, a substantially U-shaped cutter blade secured to the shaft and adapted to cut out slices of clay or material, and a paddle mounted at the rear of the cutter blade'and rotating therewith, said'paddle being adapted to coact with the'bl-ade for throwing the slices of excavated material onto the conveyor.

2. In a machine for cutting soft clay or the like, the combination of a rotatable shaft, adjustablemeans for supporting said shaft, means for turning said shaft, U- shaped blades secured to the shaft and adapted to cut out chunks of clay, and pusher blades secured to the shaft and arranged in the rear of the respective cutter blades and adapted to coact' therewith for catching the chunks and throwing them rearwardly ofthe shaft.

3. In" an excavating machine of the characterset forth, the combination of a movable support, a boom mounted on said sup port, a shaft carried at the outer end of the boom, cutters secured to said shaft, each cutter comprising side members with an outer transverse cutting portion, a conveyor carried by the boom and terminating-adjacent to the cutter shaft, means for rotating the shaft so that'the blades cut as they move upwardly, and pusher blades secured to the shaft and arranged to cooperate with the cutters to throw the excavated material rear- LOO wardly over the shaft and on to the conthe shaft, each of said blades being arranged veyor. at the rear of one of the cutter blades and 4. In a machine of the character set forth, adapted to co-act With the blade for lifting 10 the combination of a rotatable cutter shaft, and discharging the portions of excavated 5 a plurality of substantially U-sha-ped cutter material.

blades secured to said shaft, and a c0rrespending number of pusher blades secured to WILLIAM J. NEWMAN. 

